Page 87 of Unexpected Love

“What was that?” he taunts, his hand on my mouth shifting slightly.

“I’ll do whatever you want. Just please let me go,” I plead. The words might be false, but the fear in my voice isn’t.

“Oh, babydoll. If only it were that easy.” His hand covers my mouth again, and he presses even closer, his breath fanning my cheek. “You’ve embarrassed me one too many times for it to be that easy now.”

His hips press into my ass, shifting to make sure I feel his hard length against me. I try to hold in the whimper that slipsfree, but I can’t, especially when I feel the tips of his fingers slip beneath the tops of my panties.

“Get your hands off her!” a voice booms seconds before Brian’s heat at my back is ripped away.

A sob falls from my lips as I collapse against the wall, holding myself there as I try to regain just the slightest bit of composure. It takes me a second to register the sound of a flesh hitting flesh, but when it does, I turn to find Gage repeatedly slamming his fist into Brian’s face.

“Gage!” I yell, trying to break whatever spell he’s under. “Gage, stop!” I stumble forward, reaching for him, but I don’t make it to him before Declan and Caleb pull him off Brian.

“He’s out, man. You can stop.” Declan struggles to hold Gage back but doesn’t let him go until Gage’s eyes come to me, and he instantly stops moving.

Gage raises his arms in surrender. “All right. I’m good. Let me go.”

Declan releases him, and he’s instantly in my space. He doesn’t touch me, but his eyes roam over my entire body, and I see the devastation in his eyes.

“Rebel,” he chokes.

“I’m okay,” I whisper, reaching for him.

He shakes his head, pulling me into his arms. “No, you’re not.”

The second his arms are around me, I break. My body crashes into his, and the tears pour down my cheeks. I hold onto Gage so tightly my knuckles start to ache, but I can’t let him go, and I can’t stop crying.

“I’ve got you. You’re safe now.”

“Don’t let me go.”

“Never going to happen.”

thirty-five

GAGE

I closemy eyes and try to focus solely on the fact that Ava is safe in my arms and not the fact that a man is bleeding profusely behind me or the fact he just had his hands all over the woman I love.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to get the sight of Ava trapped against a wall with tears streaming down her face and terror in her eyes out of my head. All I saw was red.

I think I might have killed the man if Declan and Caleb hadn’t shown up. Though, I might not be in the clear considering Caleb is still bent over that bastard’s unmoving body.

I don’t know how I missed the sirens when I see police officers and paramedics pour into the hallway. But considering my focus is entirely on the woman in my arms, I’m not surprised.

I see Reid out of the corner of my eye and prepare myself for the fact that I’m going to have to let Ava go. There’s no way I won't get taken into the station after this.

I take one more deep breath, inhaling her apple and vanilla scent, before pulling away slightly, just enough to see her eyes. Icup her face in my hands and turn us so her back is to the scene in the hallway. She doesn’t need to see that asshole ever again.

“I’m gonna have to go to the station with Reid.”

“No!” she interrupts before I can say anything else, panic more than evident in her eyes and voice.

“Rebel,” I say as softly as I can. “I don’t have a choice.”

“Then I’m going with you.” Her grip on my shirt tightens

“We’re going to need her statement as well,” Reid offers quietly. The glare I send his way has him stepping back.

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